4 April 2002
As drug warriors’ hysterical objections to medical marijuana wither in the light of logic, and collapse in the face of compassion, they turn predictably to the appeal of “higher authority.”
Law enforcement officials testify against humane liberalization, claiming that it would be a violation of federal law. They forget, however, that the federal government has no constitutional authority over local law enforcement. Our Constitution grants the federal government specific authority over the states in terms of national defense, monetary policy, and interstate commerce, but it is silent on the subjects of cannabis, codeine or Kona coffee.
The Tenth Amendment says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.”
Since the Constitution (though originally printed on hemp paper) never mentions marijuana, it is for Hawaii to decide the issue, federal statute notwithstanding. If Hawaii’s constitution or legislature were to remain likewise silent, then it would be for the people to medicate themselves as they saw fit.
It can be further argued that Hawaii’s legislature has no jurisdiction on the issue either. According to the Ninth Amendment, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Out Founders understood that the rights of the individual are as diverse as people themselves, and any attempt to list them all would be tedious and frivolous.
For over a century, Americans recognized the right of self-medication to be as fundamental to human liberty as self defense or the right to property, as basic as eating or breathing. They realized that in order for them to delegate to the Congress or to State Legislatures the power to regulate alcohol, they would have to amend the Constitution.
As the people have not yet seen fit to amend the constitution to prohibit less popular drugs, it is clear that the drug war is not only destructive, immoral, and irrational, but illegal as well.
update 180107: Alleged Constitutional-Scholar-and-College-Professor Obama was certainly no friend of liberty, but even he could see the massive rolling wave of cash and cannabis freedom staggering across the Union. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions lectures us on a “return to the rule of law” but forgets his own oath of office (and Mr Trump’s and Mr Obama’s and mine and all other federal employees’, past and present) to obey America’s highest law, the US Constitution, whose Tenth Amendment specifically reserves to the States all powers NOT DELEGATED to the united States.
Carrie Nation and her Prohibitionist ilk at least recognized that the Constitution didn’t say anything about booze, so they sucked it up and wrote that particularly bad idea into the Constitution through the Amendment process. (Note to Director Anslinger, General Sessions, and Officer Krupke: it also says nothing about weed.)
El Donaldo had better short-leash J-Beau, and right quick!
He’s making Barachio look good!
update 180109: correspondent JS notes the confluence of Shakespeare, Sondheim, and politics. Sure, politics was easy, the piece reeks of it. The Sondheim reference was a little more subtle, but hardly hidden. Shakespeare? That one puzzled me for a bit, but I see it now. Petruchio was certainly the mercurial fortune seeking opportunist who married a strong-willed “shrew”, but I was thinking more of Carlo Collodi’s tale of the notorious liar whose nose grew with each deceit.
update 180313: Since Hawaii’s legislature contemplated liberalizing its own statutory canons in the early Naughties, and as more angry old voters die, enlightened politicians come to understand more clearly the compelling logic that has assailed them for generations. So I guess it’s true, “Our Democracy” IS a living, evolving thing — like herpes or ebola.
update 180320: I have to take issue with Mr Trump’s proposal to kill drug dealers. Since I keep myself in groceries and electricity through my involvement in organized gambling, drugs, and extortion (I sell beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets at the Quikk Stopp by the Interstate, where I am also obliged to collect “sales taxes”) I feel that I am being unjustly targeted. I know that emphysema and cancer and cirrhosis of the liver and chronic poverty are all serious issues, but I don’t force any of my products onto any of my clientele. Nor, I suspect, do any other successful merchants. Free trade happens only when each party perceives himself to be better off after the transaction. Issues of fraud or misrepresentation can be handled separately, and are in no way a function of the product itself. We have decades of evidence now demonstrating that Jim Beam and Seagram’s continue to NOT shoot it out over turf. There is no drug so destructive as prohibition itself.
update 180413: Nancy Baloney’s spine apparently remains in storage somewhere in Westchester along with his testicles. The Capitulator’s late life conversion comes safely at a time when he need not risk appearing humane, rational, or “soft on drugs.” Claiming that his thinking on cannabis has “evolved,” Weepy John suddenly realizes that:
(1) Enough angry old voters are now dead. No need for frightened and timid Republicans to continue the sadistic cruelty of prohibition, and
(2) He’s out of office. What does he care what silly voters believe?
But most of all, after shilling for the Drug Lords of Reynolds American for decades, he now finds that Acreage Holdings is also offering cash.
update 180923: Charlotte Elmore and other sufferers from chronic pain are wise to fear the lethal power of Ohio’s legislature. Though sufferers for generations have managed their pain with opiATEs, cannabis, chamomile, and alcohol. most such benign homegrown remedies have been prohibited by our merciful masters to make way for their sponsors’ artificial and toxic opiOIDs, which inflict further discomfort as they inhibit eliminatory efficacy. Of course, it’s all for the best; years of pharmaceutical industry research has shown that there is no clear link between homegrown remedies and hefty campaign contributions. Drug dealers like me and my employer have even more cause to fret. If “it is appropriate to hold accountable those who dispense… drugs that can kill,” then should I and every other clerk at every other Quikk Stopp along the Interstate look forward to being jacked up by Mike DeWine’s legions of eager DAs for our contributions to emphysema, cancer, and bronchitis?
update 190615: “Protecting our Traditions” — One can usually rely on government to sanctify bigotry and barbarity. In the name of protecting social order and preserving our traditions, government would regularly weigh in on the side of the entrenched and the popular. It enforced the Fugitive Slave Act (in spite of abolitionist nullification measures), passed the Democrat authored “Jim Crow” restrictions and prosecuted race-mixing scoff-laws, criminalized consensual sex acts, and tortured to death the terminally ill by locking them in cages and denying them their tumor-combating cannabis. Buckeye bigots can breathe more easily these days, knowing that Massa will smile on their discharging nonconformist junkies. [Ohio Legislature provides legal cover for drug test “failure” dismissals]. Silly potheads don’t seem to understand that one joint will render a formerly “good person” unfit to work anywhere ever, while a quart of Wild Jerkey® on Sunday night, plus two Dead Gulls® and a pack of Llama Llights® on Monday morning, and you’re magically good to go.
update 190714: “Persecutorial Discretion” — In their vain efforts to promote reason, sanity, and humanity, the sponsors of the “no fine, no time” measures (Cincinnati Enquirer 14 July) forget one very important point. It’s the same point glossed over by peace-loving anarchists in THEIR campaign to civilize society. Without government, who would beat up potheads and throw them into cages? In some communities, prosecutorial discretion undermines the legislature’s fatwa on freedom. When will people understand that Big Brother loves them?
update 190831: “Predatory Paradox” — For a classically perverse example of pandering, posturing, puffery, and perfidy watch as Ohio’s mendacious mandarins both threaten AND subsidize the drug lords (AmeriSource, Cardinal, McKesson, et al) doing business on their turf. Like sharks or jackals catching the scent of blood, Buckeye Bureaucrats converge on their injured prey (genus Deeppocketus Corporatii), in this case Johnson & Johnson, who’d just taken a substantial hit from Sooner Statists to the tune of about a half a Gigabuck. During decades of threats and intimidation to keep ailing consumers away from such benign homegrown remedies as cannabis, chamomile, opium poppies, and raw milk, legislators chased sufferers toward more aggressive analgesics with tragic side effects. If not for the sacrament of “Sovereign Immunity” victims of chronic pain would have cause for suit since they had been denied relief in the name of protecting political contributors.
update 191025: As The War on (some) Drugs continues to rage, the collateral damage mounts. One might be inclined to withhold sympathies from licensed MDs, as they are willing participants in (if not actual accomplices to) the regulatory therapeutic state. As for the victims of chronic pain, however, I have nothing but sympathy. Doctors willingly place themselves into this “damned if ya do et cetera” bind but nobody asks for a debilitating injury. But of course it is all worth it, because what kind of message would we be sending The Children if we suggested that grownups should make their own decisions and deal with the consequences of their actions? If it stops just one glassy eyed slacker from dumping Cheeto® dust all over Mommy’s new couch, our sacrifices will not have been in vain.
update 191118: in re Obama’s-man-Biden to Vegas crowd —
Reactionary Reprobate Reveals Revulsion to
Relinquishing Restrictions on Recreational Reefer
update 191122: For a Portrait of Pusillanimity, we need look no further than Cryin’ John, also known as former Speaker of the House Nancy Baloney, Obama’s Ottoman, the Caliph of Capitulation, and the Sultan of Surrender. This principled politician, golf buddy of the Prez and toady of the tobacco cartel, “served” as Speaker between the reigns of Nancy Pelucid and Paul R’Ayneau, during which time he stood firmly against “sending our children the wrong message.”
Of course, it would be a mistake to judge the Westchester Whimperer solely on the basis of his sycophantic speakership. Upon retirement from “public service” he has parlayed his notoriety and expertise into a new gig as a flack for the newly legalized cannabis industry. His concern for “our children” seems to have dissipated now that he no longer fears the electoral vengeance of angry old voters. What’s more, as it turns out, cannabis lobbyists ALSO deliver truckloads of cash to spineless spokesmodels.
update 200100: Decades of research reveal no clear link between homegrown remedies and hefty campaign contributions.